First of all I am a great fan of Tamil cinema and in the last 2 years I have probably seen the best of Tamil cinema. I loved movies like Veyil, Mozhi, Paruthiveeran, Oram Poo..and the list can go on. Recently I saw Dasavatharam on day 1 and I thought the movie was good but something was missing. I think there was no purpose for the story, though I know people will point to chaos theory but a movie goer cannot depend on chaos theory to understand a movie. Kamal's acting was superb as usual but this movie is no where close to any of his classics.
I saw a Mongolian language called 'Mongol' which I must say is an instant classic. It is the first movie in the trilogy by filmmaker Sergei Bordov and this part focuses on the early life of Ghengis Khan and his struggles. The movie was made on a budget of 20 million dollars (some claim $18m or $10m) and the movie easily beats the bigger historical Hollywood movies hallow (Troy, 300 to name a few). I was wondering what makes this movie a classic even though it was made on a shoe string budget (by historical movies standard) and the answer to that is the film had a soul and a purpose of a plot. Many movies miss that due to focus on issues that are not central to the plot for example Dasavatharam focusses too much on Kamal's make up and had at least 3-4 avatars that were not necessary and did not go with the flow of the movie. Tamil cinema can go global in the real sense if we start making movies for the global audiences. To achieve this the movie plots must be tighter and commercialism must be thrown out of the window because if a movie is good; I am sure movie loving audiences will watch the movie no matter what language it is made in.
Tamil movie makers must start making movies that are for a global audience with universal themes rather than make movies just to satisfy or prove one's star power. It is only through that route can we expand the the reach of Tamil movies and take it the global way. Paruthiveerran is a classic example in this case, even though it was a story based out of rural Tamil Nadu which no one even outside Tamil Nadu can relate to, it won such appreciation in global film festivals like the Berlin Film Festival and simultaneously was a commercial success too. I am sure that the forthcoming projects of Kamal like Marmayogi will be a step in that direction.
I saw a Mongolian language called 'Mongol' which I must say is an instant classic. It is the first movie in the trilogy by filmmaker Sergei Bordov and this part focuses on the early life of Ghengis Khan and his struggles. The movie was made on a budget of 20 million dollars (some claim $18m or $10m) and the movie easily beats the bigger historical Hollywood movies hallow (Troy, 300 to name a few). I was wondering what makes this movie a classic even though it was made on a shoe string budget (by historical movies standard) and the answer to that is the film had a soul and a purpose of a plot. Many movies miss that due to focus on issues that are not central to the plot for example Dasavatharam focusses too much on Kamal's make up and had at least 3-4 avatars that were not necessary and did not go with the flow of the movie. Tamil cinema can go global in the real sense if we start making movies for the global audiences. To achieve this the movie plots must be tighter and commercialism must be thrown out of the window because if a movie is good; I am sure movie loving audiences will watch the movie no matter what language it is made in.
Tamil movie makers must start making movies that are for a global audience with universal themes rather than make movies just to satisfy or prove one's star power. It is only through that route can we expand the the reach of Tamil movies and take it the global way. Paruthiveerran is a classic example in this case, even though it was a story based out of rural Tamil Nadu which no one even outside Tamil Nadu can relate to, it won such appreciation in global film festivals like the Berlin Film Festival and simultaneously was a commercial success too. I am sure that the forthcoming projects of Kamal like Marmayogi will be a step in that direction.
